Fracking ‘the best green option of this decade’

Fracking could be one of the best green options of the decade, one industry commentator has argued.

Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, wrote in an article for USA Today that fracking has led to a “dramatic transition” to natural gas.

This shift is important for environmentalists because natural gas produces 45 per cent less carbon dioxide than burning coal, he added.

Fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers by drilling down into the earth and then releasing highly pressurised fluids into the shale area.

This creates channels in the rock, allowing natural gas to be extracted at a much higher rate than traditional methods.

The practice has courted controversy, but Mr Lomborg claims some of the allegations levelled at fracking have probably been exaggerated, including the dangers of well contamination.